The City of Johannesburg’s City Manager, Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni, is to begin an audit of persons living in Joburg’s social housing and Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) accommodation
This to ensure that only lawful occupants of properties are housed in them, said Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba.
“Since entering office, I have received repeated complaints that some of these properties are currently housing unlawful occupiers, including undocumented persons, who are not permitted to occupy those properties by law,” he said.
The final report on this audit is expected to be provided to the mayor by the end of October this year.
Mashaba said it was no secret that Joburg faced a housing crisis. About 300 000 units are required urgently if the City is to make inroads into the housing backlog.
“This coupled with an urban migration of 3 000 people to Johannesburg monthly, is an indication that urgent intervention is required to managing the pressures faced by the City. Indeed, some residents have been on the housing list since the mid-90s.”
This makes the investigation into the claims made by residents all the more pressing, he added.
“More importantly, should the claims prove substantially true, we need to understand, not only how this happened, but hold those responsible to account.”
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